Gunmetal
by ThymeHealsAllWounds
Summary: Teams RWBY, JNPR, CRDL, & CFVY weren't the only teams attending Beacon. It's time to give those silhouettes a backstory, with Team GNMT and their friends. They will have to overcome student life, criminal plots, Grimm, and each other if they want to survive Remnant.
1. GNMT

**It only took forever. Here's the first "revamped" chapter. I completely redid Nick's character who I felt was too bland and just did an overall polish of the chapter. Tsuta's portion remains the most similar to the original I think. I added some descriptions to all of them and made subtle changes that will affect the characters in the future, for example I made Tsuta sound a lot less formal, so if you've already read the original chapter make sure you reread this! Anyways I hope you enjoy, and hopefully I will be seeing you again.**

 **Don't forget to leave me a review it really does motivate me to put out better quality content faster!**

Chapter 1: GNMT

 _ **G**_

Two Atlesian guards made their way through school hallways with a single boy in tow. The boy had snow white hair, except half of his hair was buzzed on the left side and the rest was brushed to the right, and it was long enough to cover his ear. He had two white stripes on his cheekbones that tapered to a point and with his white eyebrows, they framed his steely teal eyes. His skin was several shades darker than the pale Atlesian guards on either side of him; making it obvious he hadn't been raised in Atlas. He wore a black choker with white spikes, contrasting his Atlas Academy uniform he begrudgingly wore.

The trio eventually entered General Ironwood's office. One firmly gripped one of the boy's arms, and he would have resisted if not for the restraints around his hands. His hands were cuffed behind him as they dragged him into the office. "Sir, we have the student," said one of the soldiers in a serious, but calm demeanor. "Give us a moment alone, please. And remove the restraints," Ironwood ordered. The headmaster was facing away from Gavin looking out his window to Atlas, a city blanketed with snow.

"Gavin Neirin. When my officers picked you up off the streets, you were nothing more than a criminal. Luckily for you, in Atlas we strive for improvement. I gave you a chance to use your skills for the good of the kingdom. However, it hasn't even been half of the probationary period and you've continued to cause trouble. You haven't even joined the Academy yet and you expect us to let you have a weapon?" He paused here waiting for an answer, and upon receiving none, sighed.

He turned and looked at Gavin in the eye. "You've shown a lot of potential here at the academy. You'd most likely be top of the program, but even as the best, you can not get away with these sort of actions. You haven't been accepted as a student yet. And only students get to train with weapons. I know it's tedious but just stick with the discipline and basic combat training and you'll have a weapon in no time." He paused again, waiting for a response. He got none. "Alright Mr. Neirin, if you can't refrain from these actions, I'm sorry but I'll have to remove you from Atlas Academy." At this, Gavin finally looked at the General. "Can you honestly tell me this won't happen again?" Ironwood inquired.

Finally. Gavin responded, "No. I will not work with the Atlesian Military."

"This is the Academy. It's not the same thing as the Military," Ironwood stated tiredly, obviously for the umpteenth time.

"The General of the military runs it, and when students graduate they are pressured to enter the Special Operatives unit. I will not work for the military, General," he said the last word with obvious venom.

The General's face failed to show any difference in emotion throughout the exchange. Finally he sighed and relented, "Then you leave me no choice, Gavin. You are expelled from the school. Collect your things. I expect you to leave the Academy by the end of the week. I hope you'll do this voluntarily, but if not... you will be forcibly removed." He waved his hand, dismissing Gavin. Ironwood ordered the two soldiers waiting outside the entrance to lead him back to his dorm room.

On the way there, walking through the halls of the academy, Gavin couldn't help but overhear a couple of officers talking about a shipment of Atlas tech being sent over to the Kingdom of Vale. "Yeah, my partner is leaving in the one bullhead that's parked on launchpad 3. I'm just surprised that something so small is being used to ship something all the way to Beacon Academy instead of an airship."

"What's the shipment?" asked the other.

"I dunno. Something for the application tests they do over their. Heard there was some spare weapon parts too. I just am hoping my partner gets back soon. We have plans."

Gavin smiled to himself as he heard this. When the officers led him through a courtyard, he took the chance offered to him. He waved his hands by his waist and out each sleeve popped a hidden metal bar. The soldiers, who were caught off guard, were put down pretty easily by Gavin. He ran off before they could recover, jumping higher than any normal person could. He leaped from rooftop to rooftop after a while he simply snuck around the campus heading towards his goal.

However, this was Atlas and they weren't going to let him get away so easily. He must have been caught on a camera, because before long he turned a corner and found a group of armed and ready soldiers. He raised both bars, one ready to strike and another pointed at the soldiers' feet. He blasted a gust of air at their feet, the force strong enough to trip the oncoming soldiers. His makeshift weapons batted and jabbed, knocking the rest of soldiers off their feet. If it weren't for their Auras and armor they'd have some nasty bruises and a couple broken ribs.

Just as he finished the group of soldiers, the ones who were blasted to the ground by his Semblance rose to chase after him. He was prepared to fight until one managed to grab his weapons out of his hands. Feeling cornered he was getting ready blast them with an enormous wave of air until he noticed the bullhead powering up on one of the launchpads behind the soldiers. He crouched down, redirecting his Semblance. The soldiers pointed their guns at him and told him to stand down. He could feel the air around him thickening, bending to his will behind him, so much so that it distorted the world around him, like heat waves coming off of pavement. After a moment of air twisting around him, tightening and obeying, he released it with a thunderous wave that knocked the remaining guards off their feet, a few probably ending up unconscious. The blast simultaneously sent him flying towards his destination, though his flight was much more graceful compared to the soldiers.

He hit the ground running towards the bullhead, trying to keep out of sight as he climbed into the bullhead stowing away with the cargo. The aircraft's door shut and Gavin could feel the bullhead lift off as he prepared for the long flight. He looked around for something to occupy his time on the ride. After a bit of searching his eyes landed on several boxes labeled "spare parts" and he smiled.

 _ **N**_

In the middle of a dark forest, a silver haired boy roamed aimlessly, without purpose. He wore a black leather vest with several pockets over a black sleeveless shirt with a grey chevron on the front. He also had thick, heavy metal rings around his wrists, neck, waist, and ankles that contrasted his leaner frame. He had been told that they looked like heavy duty shackles of some kind. On his back sat a sheathed greatsword. His hair was a silvery grey color, despite his young age. He had two silver piercings in each ear, and some of his grey facial hair had started growing all along his chin. It seemed the only color on him were his deep blue eyes.

As he marched on, red eyes began following him, but he either didn't notice or didn't care. He eventually entered a clearing where the red eyes surrounded him on all sides. He slowly unsheathed his sword which activated the metal rings around his body. The rings shifted and expanded into pieces of armor, his neck ring expanded into a chest piece and pauldrons. His waist ring turned into armor for lower back, thighs, and stomach and his ankle rings made armor for his shin and knees. His wrist rings expanded into thick bracers with gun barrel attachments on the sides, thus completing his armor as he put himself into a readied position, sword pointed forward with one hand below the crossguard and the other above the round pommel. His blue eyes stared calmly into the darkness as he waited.

The first Beowolf lunged in front of him and was easily sliced in half, and the second, which attacked his left flank, was just as easily decapitated. The third tried to attack his now open left flank, but its skull was smashed with the pommel of the sword as a gunshot rang out from his bracer. Another Beowolf charged his front put was put down with a strong right kick.

"C'mon!" he bellowed "Is that the best you got?" At first none of the Grimm answered his taunt, but then four leaped out, one from each side and time seemed to slow. He swung the sword above his head in an arc, cleanly slicing the Grimm in front of him diagonally so that he could move the sword continuously, he dropped his lower hand and he moved the sword around behind him, sweeping it up back into the air above him where he gripped it by the pommel once again so that he could leverage it and swing his sword into a downward strike at the Beowolf on his left. As he lifted the sword, he angled his wrists so that the barrel attachments aimed over his shoulder and fired, allowing him to gain enough momentum to strike the incoming Grimm on his left as well as shoot the Grimm flanking him from behind in the head.

Time seemed to resume its normal pace again as the last Grimm dropped dead. More eyes joined the darkness and more Beowolves joined the fight and soon the growing pile. After finishing a large wave of the monsters, some of the more intelligent ones hesitated to join the fray, and soon the red eyes retreated back into the darkness.

"Crap!" He yelled as he stabbed the ground with his sword. His armor retracted back into metal rings and he began marching forward without his sword as if to follow the red eyes and drag them back, but a voice in the darkness made him stop.

"You know, Nick, if you're so eager to be killed by Grimm, there are schools for that," the voice said. Nick looked around trying to place the voice.

"And why should I follow the advice of a snake?" Nick asked.

"You know, that girl you're so broken up about? She was a Huntress. Maybe you'll find a different retribution by continuing her work." There was the sound of someone leaping through the trees and Nick knew the person had gone.

Nick paused and contemplated, then returned to his sword where he sheathed it and walked back the way he originally entered the clearing, with a new goal in mind.

 _ **M**_

A young girl walked down the street in the middle of Vale at night. She had bright light blue hair that was relatively short on the sides and back, but transitioned to be longer in the front. She had a fringe that covered half her right eye, which was a warm brown color. She had three streaks on her cheeks that matched her hair color and resembled whiskers, which seemed to help allude to her Faunus heritage. Of course the white tail that was energetically whipping to and fro was enough to hint at her race. An accessory that she wore that also seemed to relate to her Faunus genes was the thin pink collar with a black buckle that she wore like a choker. She wore a royal blue coat with short sleeves and didn't extend past her elbows. Underneath that she wore a plain black tee with very short sleeves that matched her black shorts. She also wore a silver necklace, which suspended a design of two crescent moons that were placed so the white moon was above the blue one creating a '3'-like shape.

As she walked she stared at the piece of paper that read, "Dear Ms. Mond Blauer, On behalf of Beacon Academy, I am pleased to announce your acceptance into our prestigious Huntsman and Huntress Academy. We hope to see you this coming school year." There was more of course but that was the important part. She had been accepted! The letter had been folded and unfolded many times and showed other signs that she had this letter for awhile now.

Mondy was so engrossed in reading her letter she didn't notice the small group of men that had started to follow her. "Hey there sweetie! Where're you goin?" one of them called. Trying to ignore them, she continued walking. "C'mon sweetheart, a little girl shouldn't walk around alone, she might be in danger!" they all laughed. She turned into an alleyway only to find that there were more men on the other side blocking the exit. Mondy slowly put away the letter and drew out two long sticks. "Looks like we got a feisty one!" another called. Then the two hidden blades popped out of the handles of her "sticks" and some of the men looked a little more hesitant.

One guy was feeling brave and charged her. She swung both blades low, hitting his legs with the dull side of the blade, literally sweeping the man off his feet. As two more charged her she sheathed each blade into the handle of the other, creating a small staff. She proceeded to beat the guys with the staff, hitting one in the stomach, spinning and hitting the second in the side, then pulled it back, slamming the staff into the face of the first while simultaneously backflipping which allowed her to kick the second in the face. Needless to say, they both quickly fell down unconscious.

As two more charged her from either side, she lowered her weapon. As soon as they were just outside arms reach, she activated her Semblance, which teleported her about ten feet above where she was standing and the two men below her collided.

There was still about eight guys left and they decided to try and overwhelm her with numbers. As they charged Mondy, she beat them as they came, all the while her weapon continued to change forms throughout the fight; with a press of a button the blades came out each end of the staff, then a blade retracted and it became a pike, then it returned to its original two stick form. For some she used her Semblance to teleport in the air so they would fall into the ground, instantly becoming incapacitated, none of them even laying a hand on her, or appearing behind them so she could easily attack from behind and move on to the next. About twenty men laid around her, either unconscious, or curled up in pain.

Only one guy was left standing in the alley, but he was younger than the rest. Her age in fact. dressed in all black to match his hair "Hey Reyn!" she called, a smile on her face as she waved.

"Hey Mondy, I see you're celebrating already. He held her acceptance letter in one hand." She realized the letter was no longer in her pocket.

"No fair Reyn. What about you, did you get in?" At this Reyn smiled and held up an almost identical letter of acceptance from Beacon.

 _ **T**_

A group of Grimm were attacking a group of adolescent boys from every side in a forest clearing. Among them a boy dressed in shades of green drew dual Khopeshes. He jumped and spun in the air, slicing an Ursa several times. As he landed he changed his weapons into shotgun mode and finished the Ursa. He wore a green cloak that wrapped around his front and spilled down his back. The black shirt underneath had a bright green design on it, what looked like two lower case 'y's mirroring each other so the bottoms sloped towards each other until they reached his legs, and the tops looked like they extended towards shoulders, however most of the tops were obscured by his cloak. He wore dark green pants with a green stripe down the front that were extensions of the design on the shirt. His feet were covered by a pair of black tabis.

His brothers attacked the other Ursai and Beowolves. "Tsuta, little help please?" one of them, dressed similarily but in mahogany called. Tsuta charged up his Semblance and made his brother glow with Aura. His brother quickly rejoined the fight.

Tsuta also resumed attacking. A Beowolf had just jumped in his path, which he quickly cut down. An Alpha Beowolf replaced his fallen comrade with a howl. Tsuta again attacked but this one didn't go down very easily. It slashed at him, knocking him back, but before it could strike him again, he blasted it with his shotguns repeatedly.

The Alpha was knocked back long enough for Tsuta to get back up. Tsuta's blades still did no noticeable damage and the shotguns only subdued it for a moment. Tsuta gritted his teeth and sheathed his Khopeshes on his back as he prepared his next attack. As the Alpha charged him again, Tsuta jumped onto its head and slammed his fist into its forehead, focusing his Aura into the Grimm's skull and into the body until it exploded. The spikes on the back of the Alpha embedded and killed several of the other creatures of Grimm behind the Alpha.

He and his brothers quickly dispatched the remaining minor Grimms. When they were finished, they were so tired they just sat down. "You did good today Tsuta. Are you sure you want to go to Beacon? You could just keep training in the field with us you know. You'll learn more practical skills that way," one of the brothers suggested, this one in royal blue.

"No. I want to go to Beacon. I realize I've learned a lot with you guys, and I'm grateful..."

"But...?"

"But if I had made even one mistake while fighting that Alpha, my life could've been over. I'm not ready, and Beacon will give me a better opportunity to train and study to be a good Huntsman all around. I've learned a lot about combat and teamwork from you guys, but I had to resort to using an Aura attack on the Alpha 'cause I didn't know how best to attack him." Tsuta let out a sigh. Aura attacks were easy ways to kill powerful Grimm, but left the user extremely vulnerable. It was a risky trade-off.

"It's your decision, bro. Do what you think is best. You've already been accepted, so if you feel that Beacon is the best way for you to become a Huntsman, then do it. We'll still be here, waiting for you when you graduate."

"Okay then," Tsuta said with confidence, "I'm going to Beacon."


	2. Greyscale

Chapter 2: Greyscale

 ** _N_**

It was the first day. Everyone on the bullhead was excited; students were in small huddles talking with friends about what they expected to happen. However, Nick had nobody. He didn't know anyone and no one knew him. He thought about approaching the only other student alone on the bullhead, but he really didn't look like he was in a talking mood.

Nick couldn't help but admire the other boy's outfit that reflected his own greyscale scheme. His leather jacket was completely white except for its black lapels and shoulder straps, which were dotted with white metal buttons and beneath the jacket was a simple black t-shirt. He wore black pants that had strips of metal clipped into the front of the fabric seemingly haphazardly, and black combat boots with thick soles. He had several earrings on each ear - made of white gold from the looks of it. His hair was a shock of white, with the left side of his head shaved, and the rest was brushed over so that it framed the right side of his face, almost reaching chin length. Around his throat was a black choker with white spikes. Starting near his ears, two white streaks lined his cheekbones and came to a point an inch below his eyes. And his eyes were two steely teal orbs that remained in a constant relaxed, yet scrutinizing stare as he looked around the bullhead. His skin was slightly darker than Nick's own, as if he spent all of his time in the sun.

Deciding to stick to his corner of the bullhead and people watch for now, Nick glanced around and he mindlessly stroked the vertical scar over the left side of his mouth with his thumb. _Chances are one of these people were going to be either my teammate or at least on my team,_ he thought to himself. He saw two girls, one red-hooded girl with short hair and one blonde with really long hair. They looked nothing alike but the blonde referred to the shorter girl as her "baby sister." Apparently the younger one had been moved up two years from combat school. _Impressive._ Then there was some blonde guy who seemed to be getting progressively ill.

Nick continued people watching as a news story about some criminal and the notorious White Fang was being aired on the nearby holographic display. _It's a shame that whenever the media talks about Faunus it's in a negative light. Humans can be just as despicable, and often especially despicable towards the Faunus._ The news story was cut short by the hologram of Professor Goodwitch. She gave some speech about how we are an honored few that get to attend the Academy, and how our world was in a time of peace, and blah, blah, blah... It's not that he didn't care, but his mind was elsewhere as they grew closer to the Academy. He had been there before for orientation, but there was something different about the campus this time. It seemed alive, with all the ships flying about, the view of Vale all around, and all the people already milling around on the campus who looked like ants from the distance.

Of course, the splendor of the view was ruined when the blonde boy seemed to be unable to contain himself any longer and ran to the nearest trash can to vomit, bumping his way past several people including Nick. In doing so he accidentally got some of his vomit on one of the two sisters. The girls quickly grossed out and caused some ruckus on the flight. As Nick chuckled to himself, he spotted a shorter kid dressed in nothing but shades of green. He had noticed the kid earlier chatting with various passengers. He seemed to be different than the others. He laughed and had a genuine smile. He was also shorter than Nick by a few inches which is a rare sight. Not that Nick is short or anything, he's average height and don't you dare say otherwise.

Opposite the green kid was a girl who was similar in stature. Out of everyone on the ship this girl seemed the most energetic. She talked with her hands and rocked back and forth on her feet and when she got excited she practically jumped in place. There was something very familiar about the girl as well. Nick couldn't quite place where he might've seen her before.

There were few other faces that stood out, a boy dressed in all black next to the blue cat girl, a dark skinned boy who resembled a desert wasteland bandit towards the front of the ship, A tall guy with mace that sneered at the blonde boy who vomited, and a short girl with dark red hair wearing black aviators who already looked like she had seen her fair share of battles showed off some of her scars to another student.

"That's a gnarly one you got across your face," said the student. However from her expression it was the one she was least proud of. She stood up and took off her aviators to reveal her lime green eyes.

"You're right, this was the most painful one of all," she stated while staring at him intensely.

"But I thought you said the one on you stomach hurt the most-"

"There's more than one kind of pain," She said and replaced the shades with a wry smile as she walked away, approaching the exit doors. The ship was beginning it's descent and she wasn't the only one eager to get off the ship and explore the campus. Nick was almost disappointed that no one had approached him, although to be fair he didn't approach anyone either. Perhaps it was better to remain reclusive, he should keep people at arm's length anyhow, for their own good.

 **Hello everyone! This chapter was super short because most of what it was originally got put into the first chapter and it was either scrap it entirely or post this, and, well, I didn't want to scrap it. I was able to add on to it a little by giving a little more detail for the "redhead" character before she was officially introduced and characterize Nick a bit. Anyways I hope you enjoyed!**

 **Don't forget to leave me a review, it motivates me to put out better quality content faster!**


	3. Introductions

Chapter 3: Introductions

 ** _T_**

Tsuta was shoved to the side as a tall blonde boy rushed passed him to vomit in another trash can. The flight was uneventful until the boy became overcome with his motion sickness. The poor guy already earned the nickname, "Vomit Boy" from a few girls. Of course, he _did_ vomit on one of them.

Tsuta had been talking with a few of the other passengers, after all he would be taking classes with most of them and may even be partners with one. It'd be good to get to know them now and skip the awkwardness later.

As far as partners went, he found a few he'd like to be teamed with if he were given the option. There was the pair he last talked to. Either of them would make good partners, they seemed knowledgeable enough and friendly. He wouldn't mind being partnered with the cat Faunus or her friend. He discovered their names were Mondy Blauer and Reyn Boe. Reyn was one of those "don't judge a book by it's cover" types. Despite his outfit's lack of color, he actually had a colorful personality once you got to know him. His clothes were a simple black button up shirt, buttoned all the way to the collar, and black pants and black boots. His long messy hair was matching in color, or lack thereof. However apparently he dyed his hair, for some reason though whatever that was, Tsuta remained ignorant. He was soft spoken as well. Not the kind of person you'd assume was training to be a Huntsman. But Mondy insisted he was amazing fighter. Tsuta couldn't help but notice Reyn's lack of any kind of weapons either.

He also noticed one older grey-themed boy who had appeared to be simply observing his fellow passengers during the flight. Tsuta had been planning on talking to him, however, he was stopped by the announcement by Professor Goodwitch... and "Vomit Boy." He saw the same guy, the grey one that is, again on the way to the campus.

He looked a couple of years older and yet was on a flight filled with first-years. Weird. When he turned to look at something, Tsuta noticed that he had a small scar over his lip. The scar didn't quite go to his nose and didn't seem to make it to his chin. He obviously had some real combat experience unlike most of the other students who transferred from schools like Signal. He also wore giant metal rings around his wrists, neck, waist and ankles. _Surely they must be heavy,_ Tsuta pondered, _What could their function be?_

"You're doing it again!" a familiar feminine voice called.

"Hmm?"

"You're analyzing people." A redheaded girl with black aviators stood behind me.

"Oh, Carmina. Sorry about that. I kind of space out a lot around new people," he let out a chuckle. She was another student he met on the bullhead. She had a bandage over her nose that almost hid the freckles dotting her nose. She had a wry smile on her face, clearly enjoying herself at Tsuta's expense. She looked like the most hardcore person here, with a large, jagged scar that stretched diagonally from her right eyebrow over the bridge of her nose and ended just under her left cheekbone. Her hair was a bit unkempt. Around her neck were several necklaces that suspended various teeth, Tsuta assumed they were fake Grimm's teeth. She wore a black biker's jacket, well it was a jacket before the sleeves were torn off, effectively turning it into a vest. She wore torn blue jeans and underneath the pant legs two shiny metal boots shone and slung over a shoulder was a worn brown messenger bag that seemed to be carrying something very heavy within.

"That's weird. Not saying you're strange or anything, but it's unusual."

"Is it?"

"Kind of. But that's just your fighting instincts, to analyze a situation before you confront it. The staring is still weird though." There was pause as her smile widened. She didn't mean it as an insult, she was simply making an observation. She tended to be quite blunt about what she was thinking, lacking a filter. "So who were you analyzing this time?"

"Uh well..." Tsuta looked back towards where he last saw the grey haired boy. "He's gone."

"That's too bad, he's probably gone ahead. I hear there's supposed to be a big speech, pep rally thing going on. Why don't we check there?"

Agreeing, they went on their way pausing only when they thought they heard an explosion coming from the courtyard. "Probably some schmuck's gun going off, it's nothing," Carmina commented as they continued on their way.

"What are we looking for?" Tsuta asked not entirely sure where they were supposed to be heading.

"The multi-purpose room I think. It's the combat room we visited during orientation." Soon enough Carmina was proven correct as they found students gathering around the battle arena that was turned into a makeshift stage. Behind them entered "Vomit Boy" and a girl in red who had some soot on her cloak, probably from the explosion he and Carmina heard earlier. As they moved through the crowd of students Carmina stopped and said, "Oh! Hey, I just saw a friend of mine, I'll see you round 'kay?" and she bolted off shouting for her friend who seemed to be named after "saffron". Just then a man stepped up to the microphone. Headmaster Ozpin.

"I'll... keep this brief," he began. "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge - to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." Tsuta and a few others nodded in agreement. "But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

"Well that wasn't much of a pep talk," a voice said to his right belonging to a frowning white haired boy. Tsuta remembered this boy from the flight over, he was frowning then as well. His expression said "Don't talk to me." Foregoing that initial impression, Tsuta approached him.

"Kind of a downer speech wasn't it?" Tsuta agreed with the boy's sentiment. "Tsuta, by the way." he stuck out a hand in greeting.

The boy eyed the offered hand for a second before grasping it. "Gavin. Yeah nothing quite like the Headmaster telling his students they're wastes of energy," he deadpanned.

"Right? But he does have a point, if we go into battle with nothing but knowledge and ideas of glory, we'll die for sure. We need experience and something to fight for."

Gavin let out a forced laugh at that, and cryptically replied, "Got it covered."

"What do you fight for?" Gavin raised an eyebrow at the question.

"It's a long story. How about you. Do you have something to fight for?"

"My family are all self trained Huntsman, hunting Grimm is everything to us."

"Self trained? Then what are you doing here at Beacon?"

"Well I'm probably the least talented among my brothers so extra training couldn't hurt, that and well..."

Gavin smiled knowingly, "You want to put it to the test, see which way is better, right?" Tsuta grinned and nodded.

" _That_ and, well, I'm just curious."

"I can respect that."

A brief silence filled the conversation before Gavin asked, "Khopeshes?"

Tsuta was confused for a moment before he realized it was a question about his own weapons. "Uh, yeah, they also have shotguns built into them." He pulled out his weapons to show them off. They each had black hilts with rounded pommels, the blade was outlined in bright green on the sharp edge. The blade was straight from where it protruded from the hilt, then curved away to make a slight crescent shape and the tip was shaped to create a hook. The blades were about 24 inches in length and only the side curved outward was sharpened, the opposite end was blunt, making it useful to hit with without causing lethal damage. Along the middle of the blade there was a tube running on each side, each ending with openings. "They fire Dust shotgun shells," Tsuta explained as he pressed a button on the hilt and the blade unhinged at the hilt revealing a Dust round in each barrel.

"How do the rounds travel through the curved barrel?" Gavin asked, intrigued by the design.

"Oh they don't. I couldn't ever seem to get that part right. Instead it simply channels the activated Dust, releasing the energy at the end of the barrels, damaging anything close to the end of my sword." Gavin nodded in understanding. "What about you?" Tsuta eyed two thin swords on either side of his hips.

"Oh these are just a little something I pieced together," he answered as he unsheathed two rapiers. 'Pieced together' was right. It looked like he made them using parts from several different weapons. The hilts were pistol grips like the ones used for fencing irons and above the hilts were two large gears that didn't seem to serve any purpose other than being hilt guards. There were mechanisms attaching a dust clip to a trigger on the hilt, and a barrel above the blade. One blade was shorter than the other by a few inches. No individual piece seemed to be from the same weapon. "How did you make this?"

"I only had spare parts of other weapons to work with. Still, I think I did a pretty good job, I managed to piece together two Multi-Action Dust Rapiers."

"How well do they work?"

"Well they held up just fine in the combat entry exam. Other than that I don't know. That was the first time I used them." Tsuta's jaw dropped momentarily before he clamped it shut. _He's only used them once?!_ Sensing his concern Gavin added, "Don't worry I've gotten into battles with much less to fight with. I'll probably make some modifications later, this should get me through the initiation though."

Tsuta then noticed the crowd of students moving out of the room. "Looks like we're leaving, let's go," Gavin said as he began following the crowd. Tsuta followed, taking the moment to appreciate the fact he seemed to break Gavin's antisocial wall. So far today had been a good day. At this point, he felt confident that no matter who he was paired up with, he would have at least introduced himself to them already. Tsuta couldn't wait to get a team, he worked much better in groups than solo. He wondered whether or not he'd be able to choose his partner. He'd probably go for either Mondy or Gavin. If not, he was probably already on good terms with them, unless it was that Cardin fellow. _Ah well, only time will tell I suppose_ , thought Tsuta.

 **I didn't have to make too many changes to this chapter, I was already pretty comfortable with it. Thank you so much for reading, see you next chapter!**

 **Don't forget to leave me a review, it motivates me to put out better quality content faster!**


	4. Launch

Chapter 4: Launch

 _ **M**_

Mondy's tail swished around behind her as she stood anxiously at the edge of the Beacon Cliff. Now, she wasn't afraid of heights, but she _was_ afraid of the unknown. And what she didn't know was what she was standing on, why they were brought to a cliff overlooking a Grimm-infested forest, and, most importantly, who she was going to be partnered up with!

She silently prayed that she'd end up with her best friend Reyn. That would make life sooo much easier! It's not that she couldn't make friends, or didn't want to, far from it. She just wasn't sure if the other person would even want to be friends with her. What if she got partnered to a bully? Would she become a bully too? What would happen to Reyn? Would she bully him too?

"Hey, are you alright?" a boy next to her said worriedly. He probably had a worried expression too, but Mondy couldn't quite tell past his goggles over his eyes and bandanna pulled over his mouth and nose. Mondy remembered seeing him on the flight to Beacon. He looked like a noble. turned desert wasteland bandit. Underneath the goggles and bandanna he was a dark skinned boy with bright purple eyes. His hair was sloppily parted along his left side and a brassy gold color, his bangs barely eye length and swept to the right, almost making it seem like his head was lit with golden fire. Behind his fiery hair a gold headpiece was resting on his brow with five bright sapphires set into it. The goggles were black with gold rims around the protective glass and the bandanna was a faded tan color. Around his neck was a gold necklace with three rubies set into it. He wore a thin, worn, brown leather vest with two buttoned chest pockets over a faded pale orange shirt. A brown bandoleer was slung over his shoulder with several large dust sniper rounds inserted along its length. He also wore a belt with pockets for additional ammunition. On his back hung a large sniper rifle with a long barrel with a long blade attached to the underside. He also wore khakis and light brown desert combat boots. He stood several inches taller than her, then again most people did. Except that Tsuta guy... he was cool, easy to talk to too. _If I can't partner up with Reyn, he'd be my second choice._

"I hope you aren't afraid of heights," the boy asked, jarring Mondy from her thoughts. She smiled at him reassuringly, "Oh please! Cats _always_ land on their feet. Name's Mondy, what about you?"

"Saphron, it's nice to meet you Mondy."

Suddenly, Mondy heard Ms. Goodwitch saying something about partners and tuned in. "... Each of you will be given teammates... today." They went on to say that they'd be partners for the next four years and that their partner was whoever they first made eye-contact with.

Mondy took a moment to observe those around her. She saw Reyn further down to the left, next to a crimson-haired girl wearing aviators. Standing between him and Tsuta was a girl with short choppy purple hair. Her eyes were two different colors, one was a dark blue while the other was an equally dark red. Her expression seemed wholeheartedly disinterested. She wore a simple, form-fitting, violet colored coat with an upturned collar that was zipped to a spot just an inch or two below the collarbone. She wore purple, tight fitting pants and purple tabi shoes similar to Tsuta's. She had a leather strap and a bowstring across her chest that held a quiver and bow onto her back. There were more people beyond those four she would have to step out to see.

Mondy turned to the people on her right starting with Saphron. There was a girl in all black and white with a black bow atop her head, she seemed to give off an air of antisocial-ness. Next to her was a white-haired boy with a similar antisocial air about him that she recognized from the flight over to Beacon. _Are they siblings? No they don't actually resemble each other despite their similarities. I wonder if those two would make great partners with each other or terrible ones. I just hope I don't get one of them, I just know I won't be able to deal with that level of antisocial._ Beside him stood an older silver haired boy with a broadsword sheathed on his back who she saw on the flight as well. Beyond them stood an ivory haired girl and several more students she couldn't make out

It was only when Headmaster Ozpin said, "Are there any questions?" Mondy realized she hadn't been paying attention to anything they were saying... again. Just as she was about to speak up, because boy did she have questions, Ozpin cut off the opportunity with a "Good." She heard a mechanical sound and saw a student fly past her over the cliff. Then another. And another. Mondy looked down at the metal plate she was standing on and it clicked. She looked to her left to see Reyn in a readied stance as he was thrown off the cliff into the forest with the rest. Then the purple girl, followed by Tsuta.

Mondy crouched down, her tail moving to help her balance. Then she too was launched into the sky. She extended her legs, keeping her feet together, and spread her arms apart, enjoying the brief experience of flight. She then tucked her limbs in and rolled into a front flip. "Wooooooo!" she exclaimed joyfully. She pulled her weapons off her back, extending the hidden blades. She looked around to see the other students preparing for a landing. The purple girl was about to hit the ground too fast when her velocity suddenly decreased dramatically. Tsuta used his khopeshes to latch onto a tree to slow down his speed before he hit the ground, giving Mondy an idea.

Being lighter than the rest the others, she still had some air time before needing to land. To her right, Saphron was nowhere to be seen, but she did see the dark haired girl veering further to the right before landing, while the white haired boy seemed to slow down his flight using an invisible force. The grey haired boy had his sword in hand and was wearing armor. He flew through some of the taller trees, and then chopped into the trunk of a tree, stopping himself.

Mondy's turn to land was coming up. She adjusted her flight path towards a thick tree in front of her and grabbed her weapons, Zuerst and Zweite, and extended the blades. She sliced her blades into the tree and spiraled around it, using the tree as a braking system. When she slowed down considerably she activated her semblance, teleporting, using her remaining forward momentum to transition into a run as she touched the ground.

After several feet she ran into Boarbatusk. She quietly tried to sneak around the clearing where the Grimm sat. Just as she was about teleport away, her foot fell on a twig causing it to snap loudly. The monster turned to face her, red eyes glowing. "Okay this is happening," Mondy said readying her weapons.

The Boarbatusk charged Mondy bucking it's tusks aggressively. Mondy rolled right and easily dodged it as it charged past. The Grimm made a wide turn and began charging her again. She slid the blade of Zweite into the bottom of Zuerst, making it a blade staff, the Neigen form. When the Grimm closed in, she spun to the left on one foot, dodging the creature again, and slashing at its hide, only to find the hide was too thick and armored to cut through.

Mondy leaped backwards allowing herself more distance as the Boarbatusk readied for a third charge. This time however, it began spinning in place until it picked up enough traction and began to clumsily, and very quickly, make its way to her. Caught off guard, she only had time to react using her semblance and teleported the beast above her, where it's momentum continued to carry it past her overhead and hit the ground with a crash behind her. She turned to see it on on four feet and thankfully not spinning again. The Grimm began to rush her again as it did when she first encountered it. She pointed Neigen's blade to the ground in front of her, in the Boarbatusk's path. As it closed in, she thrusted the blade underneath the monster and, using all her strength, she drove the blade upward. She lifted the Grimm into the air above her, piercing its underbelly. She allowed the dark boar to fall back to earth, on it's back. Unsheathing Zweite out of Zuerst, slashed the creature's exposed underside, finishing it off.

She breathed a sigh of relief, glad her first encounter had gone so well. She smiled as she stood to continue her journey. What she failed to noticed was the two sets of eyes watching her. One was teal, the other was glowing red. The red eyes charged Mondy from behind, who only noticed at the last second, unable to react as the claws closed in. The teal eyes, however, watched and reacted. A gunshot rang out, and a Beowolf collapsed in front of her dead. She turned towards the saving sound, brown meeting teal.

"Well I guess that means we're partners," a boy's voice called out. The pair of eyes stepped out revealing the white haired boy from earlier. "My name's Gavin. What's yours?" _Oh no it's one of the antisocial monochromes! What if we don't work well together? What if we end up hating each other? What if he turns out to be a total jerk? What if he turns me into a bully?!_ "Um... hello?"

 **So I barely changed anything in this chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed it! In the original note here I thanked my first reviewer, and I'd still like to express that thanks to Dissolute, as he taught me the absolute joy of receiving a review.**

 **Please leave a review so I know what you like (or don't like) and I can make this story all the better for you!**


	5. Partners

Chapter 5: Partners

 _ **G**_

Gavin awaited a response from the blue haired girl. Her eyebrows slowly raised and furrowed in a worried expression. "Um... hello?"

"Wha- O-oh, hi! I'm Mondy Blauer, who are you?" she stuttered, her tail flicked.

"Uh, I'm... Gavin Neirin... so are you already partnered with some one or...," Gavin hesitantly asked, the girl seeming to be growing more and more anxious about something, as she held her tail in her hands now and fiddled with it.

"Erm, well... no. Well yes, you now, I guess," she mumbled not quite meeting his eyes.

"Okay...," Gavin said still confused by the girl's actions. Finally he snapped, "Okay, what's wrong?!"

Having yelled a bit harshly, Mondy was caught off guard and literally jumped in surprise, dropping her tail. "Eek! N-nothing!" He didn't look convinced as his eyes narrowed. "It's just- I don't- you're not mean are you?" she finally made a complete sentence.

"... No, unless I have a reason to be," he carefully responded.

"Oh! That's good... I... I think," she said, a bit of uncertainty Still in her voice. _What have I gotten myself into?_ An awkward silence filled the moment.

"So, I saw you take down that Boarbatusk... Your weapon is quite the contraption," Gavin attempted to break the silence and ice.

"Zuerst and Zweite? They're my babies. Individually they have two forms each, a nightstick form and then they can extend a blade for the sword form." She demonstrated as she displayed Zuerst, which was a slick steel. She pressed a button and a blade shot out one end. She then grabbed Zweite and pressed the bottom ends together, making them interlock. "They can combine to make Neigen. If Zweite's blade is extended it is sheathed into the base of Zuerst, but it doesn't need to be extended for them to interlock. This also allows me to create a single or double bladed staff, with the blades extending on each end. I can also just use it as a quarterstaff. Unfortunately, the blades only come out one end, so that becomes a problem when combining them. I also wanted to add a nunchaku form, but I felt that was going a bit overboard... that and I was afraid the bladed nunchaku form might cut my tail. What about your weapons?" She eyed his makeshift rapiers. Gavin stood in silence for a moment, mind reeling from all the information and the sudden switch from stuttering anxious girl to rambling weapon nerd.

When Gavin's mind finally caught up he said, "Oh these? They are just something I pieced together until I'm able to make better weapons. I just attached a hilt, a pistol barrel and body, modified it to work with a magazine, and attached the only blades that were the right size that I could find. Once I get settled into Beacon I'll make a proper set."

"Why would you replace them? They are so cool! What're their names? How did you managed to piece them together?"

"Um, well they aren't exactly optimal, like I said they are just to get me through until I can make something proper. For that reason I haven't given them names."

She got a thoughtful look, and Gavin could practically see a lightbulb above her head as she said, "How about the long one is Tafell, and the short one is Torri? And who says you have to throw them away? A little bit of tinkering and you could just improve them into permanent weapons. _Aaaanyways_ , we should probably get going, um, where are we going again?"

Gavin resisted the urge to facepalm. _I really hope she's just having an off day... I don't know if I can take four years of this._ "We're going to the hidden temple to grab a relic and then returning it to Beacon Cliff. And you're right we should start moving."

 _At least she's a Faunus, that's one less thing to worry about,_ thought Gavin as they sped through the forest. They saw smoke rising in the distance and decided to go around the area it rose from. Along the way they ran into a pack of Beowolves fleeing the fire. Gavin readied his rapiers, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Mondy following suit.

In front of them stopped two Grimm, blocking their path. "Hey Mondy, what's your semblance?" Gavin asked, trying to come up with an effective strategy. Although he couldn't see it, Mondy smiled as she answered, "I can teleport short distances. I think I know where you're going with this, I'll follow your lead."

Gavin nodded and charged the closest Beowolf. Gavin thrusted Torri towards the monster, which it easily batted away with a paw. As it prepared to counter attack, two blades appeared in it's chest. When the blades disappeared the Beowolf fell over, Mondy standing behind the creature.

"Nice!" she cheered, not noticing the other Grimm approaching from behind. Gavin quickly shot a dust round at the creature, halting its attack. Taking advantage of its stunned state, Gavin used his semblance to jump over his new partner, and sink his rapiers into the beast's skull. "Whoa, um, thanks."

"It was nothing, let's just keep going before more show up."

They continued on their way, able to avoid anymore Grimm along the way until they finally they came into a clearing where a large structure stood with several pedestals upon which stood gold and black figurines.

 _R_

Reyn ran through the bushes, occasionally calling out Mondy's name, just in case she was nearby. He was hoping to team with his best friend, but as time passed he felt his chances growing slimmer. Suddenly he ran into someone with red hair. He expected to collide with the person but when he should have felt impact he continued moving forward. He stopped and turned thinking he imagined the redhead.

However before him stood a girl a little shorter than himself in aviators, beaming confidently. "You should watch where you're going, y'know? You might hurt someone." Reyn just stood stunned for a moment, sure he should have ran into the girl. "Name's Carmina Karenia, what about you?"

"Um, Reyn Boe?"

"Really? I didn't expect such a, uh, colorful name from you, dressed all in black and everything."

"Yeah, I lost a bet." Reyn sheepishly replied.

"To that cat Faunus?"

"Mondy, yes," Reyn said defensively. He wasn't sure if Carmina was anti-Faunus, but if she was, they were going to have problems.

"So where is she? Are you guys partners?"

"Actually no. I haven't been able to find her anywhere. What about you?"

"I don't have a partner either. Why don't I help you find your friend?" Reyn was surprised by her response.

"But according to the rules we're partners now, right?"

"I mean _I_ wouldn't say our eyes have met, what with these aviators being in the way," she gave him a coy smile. "C'mon let's find your friend." And with that they headed deeper into the forest.

 **Once again, I didn't change much. Chapters 4 and 5 are probably my favorites as it is. I would like to express my thanks to Grimguy, who left a review on the original Chapter 4, and I hope you return to rant about my story, words can't express how happy I was to read your first review.**

 **Please leave a review so I know what you like (or don't like) and I can make this story all the better for you!**


	6. Relics

Chapter 6: Relics

 _ **N**_

Nick trudged along through the forest, keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings. As he went along he started having doubts about coming to Beacon. _Do I really belong here? I mean this is a nice change of pace, but the others just seem like children playing. I figured students training to defeat evil would be a little more serious... They have no idea the kind of world they're heading out into._

He heard voices in the distance and decided to approach them. He ducked behind a bush as the voices grew louder. "So are you two a thing or...," a girl's voice came.

"Me and Mondy? No, she's like a sister to me," a second voice came, this one from a boy. "We met at our combat school, we both were struggling until we started helping each other study and working together. We helped each other get through a lot."

"That's cool. I can't wait to see you guys as partners, your teamwork must be insane! I hope we end up on the same team." Their voices grew quieter as they moved away.

"So why are you hiding?" another voice came from right behind causing him to spin around to see the boy dressed in green smiling down at him.

"Force of habit I guess," Nick answered without thinking.

"That's a strange habit to have... Any other weird habits I should know about my partner, assuming of course you don't already have a partner who is also hiding in a bush somewhere," boy joked.

"Nope, and it's just me. Name's Nick, Nick Noire by the way." The older boy stuck out his hand out which the shorter boy shook replying, "Tsuta Yoshimoto."

Suddenly off in the distance sounds of fighting erupted, catching the two boys' attention. "What is that?" Tsuta asked.

"Sounds pretty serious, we should go see if we can help," Nick suggested and they ran off to the sounds of combat.

Before they arrived, however, the sounds stopped. They still continued towards where the last sounds came from. When they finally came into a clearing they believed to be the source of the sounds of battle, they saw the forest temple. Littering the area around the temple were Nevermore feathers, some chunks of ice and rose petals and other signs of the battle. There were no bodies or dissipating Grimm present so Tsuta and Nick concluded that the battle most likely moved elsewhere.

Just as they began to approach the temple Tsuta pointed out two figures standing within the temple they somehow failed to notice. It was the same pair Tsuta caught Nick eavesdropping on. Nick and Tsuta met up with the first pair in the temple, Tsuta mentioned their names were Reyn and Carmina. Nick recognized Carmina as the redhead from the ship that took them to Beacon yesterday.

"Hey Tsuta!" called Carmina, while Reyn opted for a small wave in greeting. "I see you got yourself a partner. That's too bad I think we would have worked well together."

"Well what about your partner, Reyn here?"

"Oh. We're not partners, I'm helping him find his friend Mondy."

A soft spoken voice came from Reyn as he said, "It appears she already has a partner," he nodded in another direction. In the distance the aforementioned bright blue figure and her partner approached.

"Aw I'm sorry Reyn. I guess that makes us partners though," Carmina comforted Reyn. Nick, meanwhile, idly examined the "relics" Ozpin referenced. _Chess pieces?_ He noticed three pairs were missing; the white rooks and knights and the black bishop. He grabbed a black rook and examined it. Tsuta spoke behind him saying, "Let's take that piece, it's seems like a good one." Nick nodded and pocketed the piece as Mondy and her partner approached them. He noticed Carmina, whose attention diverted as Reyn waited to greet his friend, grabbed the white queen piece.

Mondy greeted her friend Reyn saying she already got a partner, gesturing at the anti-social boy Nick saw on the airship. Reyn approached the boy and greeted him. "Hello my name is Reyn, I'm a friend of Mondy's. It's a pleasure to meet you..."

"Gavin, the pleasure is mine." They shook hands, and Gavin moved to examine the chess pieces. "Two sets are incomplete," he observed, pointing out the remaining white queen and black rook.

"Ooh," Mondy excitedly cheered, "We should take the que-"

"I'm taking the rook," Gavin interrupted, snatching the black piece.

"What? Why that one? The queen is better."

"That's true, but the way I play chess, if you play a queen offensively to attack the enemy king, it leaves the your king open to attack. Unless you bring in the rooks as defense for the king. Keep them near the king at all times and they become the most important pieces you have, because they stop any enemy pieces that get through your offense. It doesn't matter how good your offense is if the enemy checkmates your king first."

Mondy looked as if she wanted to continue to argue but resigned to defeat. Nick was amused by watching the two interact, they made an interesting partnership. _I wonder if it'll last four years though, I've seen better bonded groups fail._ Nick also noticed that the pair took the same piece that he did and he silently wondered if there was a significance to the matching pairs.

Just as Nick was about to point out the coincidence, Gavin asked, "Do all of you just want to head back to Beacon Cliff together?" Nick noticed he wasn't the only one surprised that Gavin suggested a group activity. "What? I don't think there's a rule against pairs working together, after all there was about eight students here earlier who were working together to fight a Nevermore and Deathstalker. What's wrong with six walking to the cliff?" Gavin asked, misinterpreting the expressions some of them wore.

"Sounds like a plan," Nick recovered, "I just hope you have a good sense of direction, I think a few teams have gotten lost getting here."

"Well I was here before anyone else, so I'd like to think that I'm pretty decent at finding my way," Gavin said with a laugh. _I guess you can't judge a book by it's cover,_ thought Nick with a smile.

The group of six began heading away from the temple to find their way back to the cliff.

 _S_

Saffron watched the Beowolves moving away from the fire through the scope of his rifle. As they began moving out of sight, Saffron pulled one of his knives out of his belt and scratched an arrow into the tree trunk and jumped from one tree branch to a branch of another tree and marked his path again, continuing the process until he found another spot where he stopped and started watching the Grimm again, tracking their progress. After about a half hour, a flash of purple landed next to him. "Hey, Mauve," Saffron greeted his partner, his eyes never leaving the scope. "Did you find the relic?"

"Yeah," she answered and flashed a white piece that Saffron couldn't see. "I just missed a group of students at the temple. They're heading this way, are the Grimm gone yet?"

"No, looks like it's only grown larger. And there's a pack of Ursai with some Majors nearby too. That group is gonna end up right between them." Saffron sighed, "... I guess we're gonna have to help them."

 **Here it is the last edited chapter from here on out it is brand new content! Well actually I had already written Chapter 7 by the time I decided to go back and edit the story, so I'll be editing that. Also, just a few comments of my own on this chapter, the fire in the forest is the one caused by Ruby and Weiss, in case that wasn't clear. I like the idea that the characters here are having to deal with the aftermath of team RWBY's actions. That won't be the only theme in this story but it'll certainly be there!**

 **Please leave a review so I know what you like (or don't like) and I can make this story all the better for you!**


	7. Ambush

**IMPORTANT: If you don't already know, I redid some of the details in the previous chapters. Originally I had planned to completely rewrite some chapters, but for time's sake and to try and not confuse my current readers, I just made small changes. For those who don't want to reread the whole story up to this point here's a summary of changes:**

 **The most important changes are to Nick. I completely re-wrote Nick's portion in Chapter 1. I suggest you only reread scenes/chapters where Nick is involved. I've had an idea for his backstory this entire time without really mentioning it, but that just made him seem more bland, so instead I've made changes to hint a bit more at his story. I also have made some changes to Tsuta, I had him as a more formal and polite person, and changed him to be a little more casual and laid-back, these changes were mostly made to his dialogue, but what he said then and now is still basically the same, it's just how he said it that's a little different.**

 **Anyways, and without further ado, I hope you enjoy my newest chapter... it took me forever to write.**

Chapter 7: Ambush

 _ **M**_

Our group of six traced mine and Gavin's steps back towards the cliff. Along the way we passed the area the wildfire had burned out, where we killed the two Beowolves. We continued marching in this direction when suddenly a Beowolf leaped from some brush and nearly mauled Tsuta before he could react, but a loud bang echoed through the forest and the Beowolf suddenly changed course midair and fell away from Tsuta, a giant hole in it's head. Then several Beowolves emerged, surrounding us.

As we stood ready to face this new threat, a flash of purple zoomed by us into a Beowolf, launching the monster at bullet speed, crashing into a group of Grimm. Where the Beowolf once stood there was the girl in purple from the cliff. She pressed the hilts of the two swords she was wielding, attaching them so that the curves in the blade created a longbow. In a swift motion she attached a bowstring to both ends of the swords and launched an arrow at lightning speed, the projectile ripped through several Beowolves standing in a row. Meanwhile more shots fired from the distance and more Beowolves fell all around, however, more Beowolves poured in and soon Ursai joined the fray.

All the while Mondy was becoming giddy with excitement, after all she was about to see some real action with Grimm instead of beating up pervs in an alleyway. She spun her weapons into Neigen form with no blades extended. She excitedly looked to the others to see if they would jump in too. Carmina reached into the heavy bag she carried and when her hands came back out they were covered in giant metal gloves that matched her metal boots, each having barrels on the outside sides. Reyn took the hand-to-hand combat stance she had grown used to seeing him in combat school. Nick unsheathed his sword and the metal rings surrounding his body shifted and extended into armor. Tsuta was already in a battle stance with his khopeshes at the ready. Gavin had both Tafell and Torri prepared as he said, "Nick, Tsuta, hold the west and east flanks. Carmina and Reyn protect the southern flank. Mondy and I will protect the North." Another shot rang out and two Grimm fell, a bullet from an unseen rifle ripping through their skulls.

"I assume our new friends will just keep helping us where needed?" Carmina asked, a devilish grin on her face. It was good to know that Mondy wasn't the only one that was excited to take on some Grimm.

"I think that's a safe bet to make," answered Gavin, "Is everyone ready? Let's do this."

And with that they charged, well the others charged while Mondy teleported above a Beowolf and sunk the now extended blade of Neigen into its skull. She detached Zweite from Zuerst, which was still embedded in the first Grimm's head, and extended Zweite's blade into the skull of another Beowolf that tried to take advantage of her blind spot. She pulled each blade out and attached their blunt ends together to create a double bladed Neigen. A Beowolf charged her from the right and she thrusted the weapon's blade deep into the monster's chest, using the leverage of the staff and momentum of the monster, she lifted the monster over her head and slammed it into another Grimm behind her.

However, As she was stuck trying to remove the weapon from the monster, an Ursai approached from the side. Just as it swung a massive claw towards her, she teleported with Neigen behind it. She detached the weapons and stabbed both blades into the monster's back. The monster roared and stood, with Mondy still clinging to its back. It swiped its massive claws at her and she only narrowly dodged each one. She was forced to jump away, leaving her weapons behind. She debated on how to best take down the monster and get her weapons back while she still remained unarmed. She already used her teleportation in quick succession so she'd have to wait to use it again or risk exhausting herself. Just as she started formulating a plan and the Ursai was charging, another bang sounded and the Ursai dropped dead, Zuerst and Zweite still protruding out of its back. She yelled out a "thank you" to whoever fixed the problem for her. She dashed to the Grim and used her momentum to aid her in prying the weapons out of the Grimm.

 _C_

Carmina hadn't had this much fun pounding Grimm in a long time. She punched and kicked her way through Grimm after Grimm. For anyone else the weight of the gloves and boots would have impaired them, but she has trained long and hard so her muscles could wield her favorite Grimm-killing weapons. She was surprised when Reyn seemed to be able to keep up using nothing but his fists and his martial art fighting style. Of course Carmina had some martial art training, but for the most part she was self taught. While her strikes were slower and heavier but much more powerful, his were quick, light, yet effective at crippling his opponent, then killing them. Even still, it seemed like his strikes were too powerful for his scrawny arms to be capable of. _Is his Semblance strength based?_ She wondered. But then sometimes it seemed like he was too fast, having been in one place and then suddenly in another too quickly. She couldn't figure it out and she was too busy smashing Grimm to continue caring. No need to distract herself from what was important, and what was important was killing Grimm.

As a particularly large group of Beowolves charged her, she activated her Semblance and the world seemed to shift. She made a gesture as if lifting something extremely heavy with her hands and watched as the ground in front of her lifted and folded itself over onto the charging Grimm.

 _M_

Mauve stood in a tree, like her partner, firing her arrows into the battlefield below, dropping the Grimm that were trying to sneak up on the other students. As she let each arrow fly she focused her Semblance into it causing its velocity to dramatically increase as it found it's mark faster than any other arrow or bullet would. Of course she only has so many arrows and eventually she had to rejoin the fight with her swords if only to retrieve her arrows. Speaking of which, she had just ran out of arrows in her quiver, She hopped down from her tree branch and started collecting arrows from fallen Grimm. _What a bunch losers. At least Saphron knows enough to scout ahead,_ she thought as she pulled an arrow out of a Beowolf's skull. A Beowolf tried to surprise her from behind but she reacted and spun around and sliced her blades, one cutting its neck, the other disemboweling it. She continued her hunt for arrows and Grimm.

 _ **T**_

Tsuta hacked and slashed each Grimm that stood before him with the precision that was trained into him by his family. When an Ursa Major challenged him, he was reminded of the last Grimm hunt he was on with his brothers and his struggle to beat an Alpha Beowolf. He slashed at it's hide, but he had to dodge its powerful attacks before he could deal any critical attacks. Finally as Tsuta baited the Ursai to swing he used his blade to sever the arm. He took the opening and sliced his other blade into the chest of the Grimm and fired one of his shotgun rounds inside the monster, causing its chest cavity to explode outward. _Looks like the shotgun attachment works. That's good, it works similarly to my Aura attack I used on that Alpha Beowolf._ Before charging the next Grimm, he looked around at his allies and smiled as he saw they were having similar success across the battlefield. Tsuta noticed that Reyn's Aura was quickly declining and strengthened the boy's Aura using his Semblance. Keeping his Semblance focused on Reyn, Tsuta found his next enemy and rejoined the fight.

 _ **G**_

Gavin stabbed an attacking Beowolf with Tafell and fired a dust round, ejecting the sword. He used the momentum to spin and face a second Beowolf, which he killed with a stab to the neck with Torri. Three Ursai charged Gavin. He knew he couldn't deal with all three at once and hoped that the mysterious sniper would aid him. However when the next few shots fired it was another Grimm that dropped dead around the battlefield. Gavin realized that he was on his own for now and began channeling his aura. He focused all his energy into the air in front of him until it exploded towards the Grimm effectively knocking them onto their backs. Not missing a beat, Gavin launched into the air and stabbed the two Ursai that fell close to each other. As he stood and pulled his rapiers from the dissipating corpses the third Ursai stood up behind him and prepared to claw him when finally a shot rang out and the Ursai fell forward and Gavin had just enough time to jump out of the way. Gavin focused his eyes into the trees and finally found the glint of light coming from the reflected light off of a sniper scope.

 _S_

Saphron watched as the Ursai fell over, having just saved the white haired boy. The boy began scanning the trees in his direction. The boy's eyes eventually stared directly into the scope. As the boy gave a nod and turned back to the battlefield, Saphron couldn't help but notice that there was something odd about the boys' eyes. Shrugging, Saphron continued searching the battlefield for any sudden threats. Another Beowolf snuck up on Mondy as she twirled and slashed at the Ursai in front of her. Saphron fired another round, dropping the Grimm and Mondy hardly noticed. Saphron pulled the bolt back, loading another bullet into the chamber as he prepared to find another target.

However just then, a Beowolf that managed to find him jumped towards him from a nearby tree. Saphron jumped, pointing his gun towards the Grimm and firing; the bullet ripped through the air and eventually Grimm flesh. The bullet only managed to hit the Grimm's left arm, but the impact tore the limb off. The two fell to the ground where they squared off. Despite being short an arm, the Beowolf didn't seemed deterred. Saphron pulled a second lever on his gun, causing the underbarrel blade attachment to protrude beyond the length of the barrel. Saphron charged the monster and hacked off the second arm as it swung towards him. The Beowolf fell flat on its chest behind him. He contemplated finishing it with a bullet but decided to save the ammo and instead decapitated it with his blade. The ground was sprayed with the monster's blood and as Saphron stood, letting out a breath for a moment to relax he realized his bandana slipped off his nose and mouth revealing four stripes of scars starting at the lower half of his right cheek and continued diagonally to the left towards his neck where they disappeared underneath bandana around his neck. He also had severe burn scarring on the opposite cheek. He quickly pulled the bandana up and over his mouth and nose, allowing the scars and burns disappear.

Just then several Grimm appeared surrounding him. Unfortunately he was away from the main battlefield and no help was coming, so Saphron activated his Semblance. The Grimm looked confused but still charged towards where he was standing. As they attacked their claws simply passed through him and his image shifted slightly. Saphron lifted his gun's blade into the chest of one Grimm, fired the rifle which gave him the momentum to eject his weapon out of the Grimm. He then simply ran through the opening created by the felled Grimm. As the Grimm chased him though, he seemingly dissipated into nothingness. Saphron watched from a tree as the Grimm looked around confused for a moment before heading off towards the main battle where he would undoubtedly pick them off with his rifle.

 _R_

Reyn calmly faced down each monster. Whenever he felt exhausted he suddenly felt a boost of energy and Aura. He used up a lot of his energy very quickly especially by using his Semblance. However he noticed some of the other's were starting to keep an eye on him so he decided to stop using it. He also had access to that _other_ option but he didn't feel like now was the time or place to reveal his weapons. Instead he chose to stick with simple hand-to-hand combat, he was almost equally proficient with fists anyways. A Beowolf approached him and Reyn ran towards him and in a flash he grabbed the Grimm by the head and slammed it into the ground and broke its neck by stomping on it with his foot. Reyn was lucky to have had a friend like Mondy to train with, her quick strikes and aggressive fighting style helped train his reflexes. It allowed him to react quickly and nearly effortlessly to the Grimm attacks

 _ **N**_

Nick blocked the incoming attack of a Beowolf with his sword. He pushed the beast back and followed with an overhead swing. Another charged and he couldn't pull his sword out of the previous target's skull, so he resorted to punching the Beowolf with all his might, buying him enough time to retrieve his sword. The Grimm attacked him from behind and he elbowed the monster in the face with his left arm and then spun and decapitated it with his sword. As the Beowolf collapsed he noticed an Ursai attacking Tsuta from behind, and he was too distracted by a Beowolf to notice. Nick ran and activated his Semblance to slow time around Tsuta, barely reaching the Grimm quickly enough to save Tsuta from being mauled to death. Tsuta, having just dispatched the enemy in front of him turned to see the Ursai's corpse and Nick standing over it, expressed his gratitude, "Thanks, I didn't even notice it there."

 _ **All**_

Nick and Tsuta looked around, searching for their next opponent, but instead found everyone else finishing off the last few Grimm. They gathered in the center of the clearing, a couple trying to catch their breaths. "Well that was crazy," observed Tsuta.

"Where'd they all come from?" asked Carmina.

"The fire from earlier caused all the Beowolves to move in this direction," answered a voice unfamiliar to most of the group, "and an Ursai pack happened to be migrated through here as well."

"Saphron, I should've guessed it was you," Carmina laughed.

"Saphron!" exclaimed Mondy, "It was you who was sniping all the Grimm?"

"Yeah, and it was a good thing I was here too. I saved you each more than once."

"Care to join us on our way to the cliffs? That is if you guys have your relics," Gavin offered.

"We got our relics," said the purple girl angrily, "though I'm not sure we really need to go with you guys. I mean, you weren't smart enough to look out for Grimm, who knows what other trouble you'll get us into. How many times have each of you engaged Grimm already?"

"Relax Mauve," chided Saphron, "We'll go with you guys to the cliff."

The group of eight continued on to the cliffs, where they came upon a ruin that looked like it had seen a fresh battle. There were seven others making their way up the cliff, though a little red hooded girl was already on top beckoning them. The group of eight followed suite and made their own way up the cliff.

 **Well there it is. My newest chapter of Gunmetal. It's been a long time coming but I finally got around to it. I hope to continue writing more chapters in much less time. Thank you for reading and especially thanks to anyone returning to this story. Join me next time when Team GNMT settles into their dorm and within their places on the team.**

 **Please leave a review so I know what you like (or don't like) and I can make this story all the better for you!**


	8. From This Day Forward

Chapter 8: From This Day Forward

 _ **GNMT**_

"Gavin Neirin, Nickell Noire, Mond Blauer, Tsuta Yoshimoto. The four of you retrieved the black rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team Gunmetal," the screen above displayed the letters 'GNMT' above their pictures, "led by... Gavin Neirin." Gavin's expression did not change but he gave a slight nod in understanding. As Ozpin began announcing the next team, the newly formed Team GNMT left the stage. But before they exited the auditorium entirely to find their dorms, Mondy stopped them, "One sec guys I wanna see Reyn's team."

"Carmina Karenia, Saphron Raja, Reyn Boe, Mauveine Tyre," Mauve noticeably scowled at her full name being used, "The four of you retrieved the white queen pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team Crimson," The letters 'CRMS' appeared on the screen and Carmina noticeably smiled at the team name, "led by... Carmina Karenia," Carmina's aviators slid down her nose revealing her shocked eyes for a moment before she recovered and gave her signature coy smile, and then Team CRMS also exited the stage and joined Team GNMT as Ozpin began naming the next students, "Cardin Winchester..."

Mondy jumped into a hug with Reyn, gushing with enthusiasm, "Reyn we did it, we're gonna be huntsman!" she cheered . Mauve was noticeably scowling again, this time at Mondy's tail, which was excitedly swishing back and forth.

"Well technically we still need to graduate, but we did officially make it into Beacon Academy, and that means I don't have to continue wearing this ridiculous outfit," Reyn said with a knowing smile.

"Awww, why do you gotta rain on my parade?" Mondy detached herself from him. "That's okay, I miss your old look anyways!" she added with a laugh, and then noticed everyone was still watching them. "What? This was a serious bet! You'll understand in the morning...," she said with a dismissive wave.

Carmina meanwhile was checking a map on her scroll."What dorm are you guys in?" Nick asked her

"157, you?"

"156, we're close," Nick noted and looked at the map. "Yeah there you are, and here we are," he pointed and drew a small diagonal line between the dorm rooms."

"Let's head there together," suggested Carmina and they all exited the auditorium just as the room exploded into cheers as the last team was announced and Ozpin ended his speech with, "It looks like it's shaping up to be an interesting year..."

On the way there Carmina was joking about how it only made sense she was chosen to be the leader. "I mean I have _red_ hair, so I'm the obvious choice for leader of Team _Crimson_ , right?" As they reached the dorms, Mauve spun around, "If anyone should have been the leader of CRMS, it should have been Saphron, afterall he's the one that saved you all in the forest." And with one last scowl aimed towards Mondy once again she charged into the dorm.

"Why is she so obsessed with you, Saphron?" asked Tsuta breaking the brief tension.

"Beats me... Sorry about all that by the way." Saphron scratched his head uncomfortably.

"It's alright," Carmina replied just as eight others passed them, the blonde girl waved to them.

"Hey neighbors!" she said with a cheery voice and a wave as they passed. They entered the dorms a couple doors down.

"It is getting late, we should head to bed too," Gavin commented, to much agreement, "Just remember classes start at 9, so don't be late."

As Reyn headed inside he asked Carmina, "Would you be able to help me with hair color removal and application?" which she answered with a laugh and reassuring pat on his back.

Once inside, Team GNMT observed their dorm. It was completely bare except for the four beds, their luggage which had been brought up for them, bookshelves, and a window. Gavin immediately took the darkest corner on the left, Mondy took the middle-right bed, which was bathed in bluish moonlight, Nick took the bed furthest to the right, leaving Tsuta with the bed between Gavin and simply slid off his armor and kicked his shoes off and crawled in bed still wearing his clothes from that day. Mondy headed into the bathroom to change into her pajamas. Gavin and Tsuta quickly changed into their nightwear, though Gavin took a bit longer to take off all of his accessories. Mondy came in and she laid down and curled into the fetal position, her tail hung off the bed behind her. Tsuta lied on his back, hands folded on his chest. Nick lied on his back as well, hands folded behind his head in a relaxed position, though he did not appear to be at ease. Gavin lied on his side, his back to the rest, eyes still open.

* * *

 _ **GNMT**_

Mondy woke up, immediately sitting up with a yawn and a pleasant stretch. Gavin was already up and in the final stages of putting his uniform on, he had his back turned to her. "Morning," he said without turning.

"Moooorning," she said, interrupted by another, unexpected yawn. She looked to over to see Tsuta's bed was empty. Just then he came out of the bathroom, he was struggling with the tie on his uniform. "Why do I have to wear this stupid noose anyways. Oh hey Mondy..." Tsuta looked over past her at Nick's still sleeping form. He picked up a piece of Nick's armor off the ground and chucked it at the bed. "Nick! Dude, everyone's getting up!" ... No result.

Mondy got up and grabbed her uniform and went into the bathroom to change. By the time she had come back out Tsuta still hadn't tied his tie and Nick was still asleep. Tsuta gestured towards Nick, "You try, I can't get him up." Just then Gavin got tired of watching Tsuta struggle and walked up to him and in a few quick movements tied it perfectly. "Uhh... Thanks..."

Mondy approached Nick, his face wasn't in the peaceful expression she expected from someone fast asleep, he appeared troubled. _Maybe he's having a nightmare?_ "Hey Nick." Still nothing. She decided to give him a nudge. "Nick!" she poked him. He simply grinded his teeth together. "Get up," she gave his arm a shove and suddenly he shot up and violently reached in her direction, but she wasn't there anymore, she was crouched behind her bed having teleported away when she saw his sudden movement. He was breathing heavily as he realized where he was. "Oh my- I'm sorry Mondy, I didn't mean to," his voice sincerely apologetic.

"I-it's okay," she stood back up nervously and she held one arm close, in a closed off position. "Bad dream?"

"Uh, yeah. Very," he answered cryptically as he stood and grabbed his uniform and headed into the bathroom.

"Well that was kinda intense," commented Tsuta who was still a little wide-eyed.

"It's fine now, we have a couple hours before class, you can set up your stuff if you want," Gavin suggested as he started putting on his accessories like his piercings and choker, although the spikes on the latter made it difficult to wear with the buttoned up shirt so he swapped it out with a simple black band.

Tsuta and Mondy started going through their luggage, grabbing personal belongings. Both had a few books which they placed on the bookshelves. Mondy grabbed a few posters and set them up, one of which was of a certain redhead and another was an Achieve Men poster. Tsuta pointed at the first poster, "Haven't I seen her before?"

"That's Pyrrha Nikos, she's an amazing fighter from Mistral."

"She's a student isn't she?"

"Here? I doubt it if she went to any Academy, it'd probably be Haven anyways."

"No there was definitely a 'Pyrrha Nikos' who looked just like that on one of the teams. She was at the launch site, she was there where we returned the relics, she was on the second to last team assigned, JNPR, I think. Yeah they definitely said Pyrrha Nikos."

"First of all, it's creepy you know all that, secondly," She took in a deep breath, " _I need an autograph! Maybe even a picture or two or three. No wait, I need to play it cool, maybe sit with her at lunch, become besties, and we can do everything together. Oh I hope Reyn doesn't get jealous, no he will understand I'm sure, after all he knows my obsession over Pyrrha, she's just too cool._ " She was no longer talking to Tsuta and more to herself than anything.

"And you say I'm creepy," teased Tsuta. Nick emerged from the bathroom in his uniform. "Hey Nick, we're setting up our stuff if you want to do the same."

"Uh, thanks but I'm good, I, uh, didn't bring anything."

"Me neither," Gavin chimed in, he had organized his his bedside cabinet. Tsuta and Mondy's area in the middle of the room was decorated with pictures, posters and a bookshelf had some books in it, but the sides of the room were just as bare as when they first arrived.

"Why not?" Mondy asked, hoping it wasn't too personal.

"I didn't have time to grab anything. My flight from Atlas was a last minute change in plans," excused Gavin.

"I... didn't have anything to bring," Nick admitted.

"Then what's in your bags?"

Gavin opened his to reveal it was weapon parts. And Nick simply smiled and said, "Mostly apples," which generated much confusion.

"You brought apples?" Mondy asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I love apples." Nick reached inside his bag with a wide smile and grabbed a bright red and rather delicious looking apple. "You guys want any?" They all passed on his offer. He shrugged and took a bite out of the apple, humming in satisfaction.

"Okay it's almost 8:30," Gavin announced, "Do you guys want to head over to our first class with..." he checked the schedule, "Professor Port?"

They all agreed, having finished setting up and nothing better to do. And with that they headed to class.

* * *

 _CRMS_

The four members of Team CRMS rushed around as they hurried to get ready for class.

"Where are my glasses?" cried Carmina as she threw the contents of her bag out onto the floor, while her glasses glinted in the morning light as they sat on her night table. Saphron's tie was tied, but was severely crooked, while Mauve tried to brush her hair and fix the cuffs on her sleeves simultaneously. Reyn meanwhile tightened his black collar-choker and stood watching the others freak out. He noticed Carmina's glasses and brought them to her, which she responded to by snatching from him with a quick impersonal, "Thanks." She grabbed her uniform off the ground - it ended up there during her search for her glasses - and she charged into the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

"Knew she wouldn't make a good leader," mumbled Mauve.

"To be fair, the only person who woke up in time was Reyn," replied Saphron.

"Then why didn't _YOU_ wake us earlier?" accused Mauve.

"I-um... well I figured you guys set yourselves' some kind of alarm. And when I realized you guys weren't waking up, I did wake Carmina up."

"A lot of good that did, if it wasn't for all the noise she made getting herself ready, we wouldn't have gotten up."

Carmina exited the bathroom wearing her school uniform. "Hey at least you got up right? I'm your team leader, _not_ your babysitter. We are all accountable."

Mauve moved to say something but Saphron cut her off, "She's right Mauve. Now let's hurry up and finish getting ready."

They continued getting prepared in silence, though the tension was tangible.

* * *

 **And that's where I am gonna call it quits. Honestly, I could've kept going on forever. Now that introductions of characters, weapons, semblances and character relationships is out of the way, I can just write. I will probably pick up a little bit later, just because as fun as it is for me to just write the characters interacting, I want to keep the story moving and not bogged down by filler. So I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll get my newest chapter out as soon as I can!**

 **Please leave a review so I know what you like (or don't like) and I can make this story all the better for you!**


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